BUSINESS NEWS

LEP OUTLINES GREEN POTENTIAL

As the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow last month dominated many people’s thoughts, Cornwall has been busy showing the key role it has to play in the drive to net zero.

A new prospectus and summary film from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), ‘How Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is leading the green industrial revolution’, sets out how decarbonising the economy is both an environmental imperative and huge opportunity for the region.

LEP chair, Mark Duddridge, said: “For Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the scale of opportunity in the race to net zero cannot be overstated. Our location and geology give us an abundance of resources to power the green industrial revolution, underpinned by generations of innovation and enterprise. In fact, there are few areas where so many green investment opportunities come together in one place. “This new prospectus highlights those opportunities to Government and industry as investable propositions that can deliver a low carbon future and create thousands of jobs in our economy.”

The prospectus focuses on Cornwall’s worldclass deposits of technology metals like lithium, tin and copper, which are essential components in many of today’s rapidly growing clean energy technologies but are currently imported to the UK.

Floating offshore wind energy is another area with huge potential for Cornwall, with the Celtic Sea identified as one of only two areas in the UK for large-scale floating wind deployment.

More than half of the critical measurements on climate change rely on satellite data, and Cornwall will give the UK its own satellite launch capability from Spaceport Cornwall next year (2022). Combined with Goonhilly’s Earth Station’s ability to track and control aircraft and analyse data, Cornwall is central to the UK Government’s National Space Strategy.

And the region is pioneering other technologies, from deep geothermal energy at United Downs and the Eden Project, to the development of renewable biofuels and local energy networks.

Meanwhile, the Eden Project had a special pavilion up at COP26, where it announced details of opening its first South American site.

The Eden Project International team will work alongside the Colombian Ministry of the Environment and the Humboldt Institute to establish how an Eden Project in the Meta region of Colombia might look, ensuring that it continues to embody the Eden ethos of highlighting the importance of the natural world.

The process will include the early stages of site investigation and vision development, with the first phase expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Eden Project International chief executive, David Harland, said: “We are excited to start this journey of discovery together to explore the creation of an Eden Project for Colombia. Colombia is a country of huge natural world riches and is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, as well as having varied cultures and a rich history.”

Colombian President, Iván Duque, added: “The opportunity to bring such an influential and iconic institution as Eden Project to Colombia is testament to the work we have done to better understand and promote our outstanding biodiversity and sustainability, including pledging some of the most ambitious net zero carbon emission and net zero deforestation targets in the region.”

MAKING A SPLASH AT COP26

A Cornish start-up was in Glasgow last month providing a protest pontoon for the COP26 conference.

ScaffFloat, which makes floating pontoons using its patented plastic floats and scaffolding, also floated the inflated blimp of Boris Johnson and Joe Biden at this summer’s G7 conference.

The Penryn-based company was approached by The Climate Coalition at short notice to see if it could do something similar in Scotland.

ScaffFloat MD Toby Budd said: “We knew the objective was press coverage so worked hard to give them a photo that would get traction in the world’s media - and within an hour it was on BBC News, Glasgow Daily Times, Sky News, CNN, to name but a few.”

For the press photo, an 8m x 4m scaffold platform was sunk just below the water’s surface and supported by a set of plastic ScaffFloats on deck. This gives the impression of a ‘flooded’ floor which the charity utilised for a creative photo showing world leaders meeting on a flooded stage.

Eliquo Hydrok was named Large Manufacturer of the Year at last month’s Cornwall Manufacturers Group Awards.

Held at the Eden Project, other winners included Prima Bakeries (Small Manufacturer), Kensa Heat Pumps (Environmental Project), TFP Hydrogen (Innovation Project) and Sam Weeden from Daften Die-casting, who was named Apprentice of the Year.

Other individual awards went to Gripsure’s James Napier, who won the Business Leadership award and Martyn Pearson, who was recognised for his Outstanding Contribution to Manufaturing.

Jon Hurrell, CEO of CMG said: “Our awards are always very special and this year was no exception with an excelling class of candidates all vying for the podium position.”

MANUFACTURING STARS

ON THE CREST OF A WAVE

A Newquay-based female surf brand is partnering with Rip Curl to launch a new UK surf academy.

The academy will launch this January and will allow Women + Waves exclusive access to the Rip Curl PRO surf team. Rip Curl is also backing the Women + Waves Water Women’s weekends which see all lady groups experience wild swimming, stand up paddleboarding and surfing.

Women + Waves has been delivering UK surf coaching weekends, retreats and international trips since 2019 and has created an online surf community, encouraging and supporting all women surfers.

Founder Rachel Murphy said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Rip Curl and launching the allnew surf academy for Women + Waves.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ver Facil has successfully deployed a solution to monitor the electric and water meters at Cornwall Airport Newquay. The facilities team had previously travelled across the site to manually read the 100+ meters every month. Now, low power long-range LoRaWAN technology sends meter consumption data every 30 mins from which a cloud platform calculates the actual meter reading and displays this total for the client to view via a webpage dashboard.

Cornish Lithium CEO Jeremy Wrathall has been invited to sit on the UK’s first expert committee on critical minerals. The formation of the committee is a key element of the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy. It will provide independent advice to Government on the scope and content of a critical minerals strategy.

Law firm Stephens Scown LLP has set itself a target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2025. From the electric car charge points at the offices to sourcing sustainable food for events, Stephens Scown is now measuring all its activity in its journey to becoming a zero-carbon firm. “Although ambitious, we believe our target is completely achievable,” said partner Verity Slater.

The Bourdeaux Shop in St Mary’s has become Cornwall Community Foundation’s (CCF) first Business Club member from the Isles of Scilly. The CCF Business Club was established 13 years ago and has invested over £370k into communities in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, awarding over 200 grants.

Harvest Cornwall picked up Renewable Energy Installer of the year whilst Naked Solar was recognised as Solar PV Installer of the year at the South West Energy Efficiency Awards. “We’re thrilled,” said Harvest MD Jonathan Coyle. “We work hard to provide a quality service, so we all feel extremely proud to be recognised for our efforts.”

Ignition, the Truro-based vehicle and asset finance provider, was named Top Specialist Car Funder at the Leasing World Gold Awards.

WIND PLANS WELCOMED

PHOTO: PRINCIPLE POWER

Marine-i has welcomed the Crown Estate proposals announced for floating offshore wind leasing in the Celtic Sea. The Crown Estate aims to unlock up to 4GW of capacity and help establish a new industrial sector.

Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Marine-i is designed to help the marine technology sector in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly grow through harnessing the full potential of research and innovation.

The plans from the Crown Estate include a focus on two key project categories: early commercial-scale projects of 300-350MW and full commercial-scale projects of up to 1GW. The leasing process could see rights

Sea links to the Isles of Scilly are to receive a multi-million pound boost through the Government’s Levelling Up Fund

The Council of the Isles of Scilly has been successful in securing £48.4 million towards the cost of replacing the vessels and improving the harbours which play a vital role in providing the sea links which support the community and businesses on the Isles of Scilly.

The funding was confirmed as the Government announced the first areas in the country to benefit from its Levelling Up Strategy in the Autumn Budget.

The Council submitted its bid for funding to the Government in June, based on the work which had been undertaken by the Isles of Scilly Transport Board. The board, which is chaired by Derek Thomas MP, developed plans to replace the existing passenger, cargo and inter-island vessels and improve the two busiest harbours on the islands at St Mary’s and Tresco. The project will also benefit from £5.4 million of local funding to be provided by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, Duchy of Cornwall and Tresco Estate.

awarded by the end of 2023, with projects delivered from 2030 into the early part of the next decade.

Prof Lars Johanning, programme director for Marine-I, said: “These proposals represent an important step forward in the goal of developing floating offshore wind power in the Celtic Sea. This technology could have a huge impact on the economic prospects of our region. We have access to one of the world’s best locations for floating offshore windfarms, and the local engineering expertise to build them.

“We and the UK Government believe this technology will play a crucial role in delivering our country’s goal of a net zero economy by 2050.”

HOUSE PRICES THROUGH THE ROOF

House prices in the south west are expected to grow by 13.1% over the next five years – with coastal areas seeing the strongest increases, according to new research by Savills.

The predicted figures show that the average cost of a home in the region will rise from the current average of £341,971 to £386,769 by 2026. And prices of some properties in Cornwall are expected to rise even faster.

Chris Clifford, head of residential sales at Savills Cornwall, said: “Demand for property for sale in Cornwall remains incredibly strong and the comparative lack of supply, coupled with historically low interest rates and a robust economy, means that while prices increases will start to soften, they are very unlikely to fall.

“The prime coastal markets in Cornwall, which have experienced a huge gap in supply and demand resulting in average annual growth of 14.8%, are likely to see the strongest growth in the coming years, and this could well exceed the county average of 4%.”

£48MFOR SEA LINKS

In anticipation of the funding bid being successful, work has already started in order to ensure the harbour improvements can be completed and vessels enter service by March 2024.

Stuart Reid, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, which runs lifeline passenger and freight services to the islands by sea and air, said: “We are well advanced with our vessel replacement plans and have held extensive discussions with a number of shipyards. We look forward to introducing the Scillonian IV passenger ship, cargo vessel and inter-island launch in 2024, which will be purpose-built to meet the future service needs of the Isles of Scilly community, local businesses and visitors for many years to come.”